A home is being sought for a 360-kilogram Yorkshire pig that was stabbed multiple times near Victoria more than a week ago.
Michelle Singleton, president of Duncan’s A Home for Hooves Farm Sanctuary said she was picking the animal up on Nov. 10 to bring it back to the sanctuary, but she has limited space and needs to find another location for the animal to be looked after until her space issues are resolved.
She said a person witnessed two men trying to kill the pig with knives by attempting to stab at its heart, but the knives were too short to reach the animal’s heart and all they accomplished was causing several injuries and lacerations to the pig that, in the end, proved to be non-life threatening.
“The witness reported the incident to the RCMP and then called us,” Singleton said.
“It’s my understanding that the previous owner of the animal sent the men to kill it, but we don’t know why. It’s pretty hard to kill a pig that big if you don’t know what you’re doing. He’s stabilized now and will survive. I’ve been at this for more than five years and this is the first time I’ve ever seen something like this.”
Singleton said she hopes to have found a foster home for the animal by this weekend as she simply doesn’t have the space for it on the 4.5-acre animal sanctuary, which currently houses almost 180 other rescued farm animals, including 49 pigs.
“I have a number of people interested in taking him in and I’m in the process of checking their fences to see if they can keep him contained,” she said.
“The animal won’t be used for food. Our mandate is to keep the animal happy and healthy like a pet and we’ll take him back to our sanctuary when we can.”
Singleton said A Home for Hooves Farm Sanctuary is looking to move locations and has begun a capital campaign in an effort to buy a much larger piece of property, in excess of 50 acres, somewhere on Vancouver Island.
She said that on top of the animals currently at the sanctuary, it has 50 animals on a wait list to be taken in and 30 more in foster care.
robert.barron@cowichanvalleycitizen.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
